It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 50ń125 cm tall, with stems covered in stellate hairs, meaning they branch at the free end into several strands. The leaves are 2ń8 cm long and 2ń8 cm broad, palmately lobed with five to seven blunt lobes; basal leaves on the lower stem are very shallowly lobed, those higher on the stems are deeply divided, with digitate finger-like lobes. The flowers appear singly near the apex of corymbose racemes growing from the leaf axils in summer to early fall. They are 3.5ń6 cm diameter, with five sepals and five bright pink petals, and have no scent. The bracteoles that make up the epicalyx are ovate and wide at the base where they are fused with the calyx. The fruit is a hairless disc-shaped schizocarp 4ń8 mm diameter, containing several seeds, the seeds individually enclosed in a glabrous or hairy mericarp.